Expert denounces Philly abortion clinic's policy

ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 22, 2013 12:01 AM

ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 22, 2013 12:01 AM

PHILADELPHIA -- A doctor on the stand Thursday in the murder trial of a Philadelphia abortion provider called it "reprehensible" that he would let patients pick, as prosecutors allege, among "local," "heavy," "twilight," or "custom" anesthesia based on how much they could pay.

"All bets are off (without monitoring)," said Dr. Andrew Herlich, an anesthesiologist and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Gosnell is charged in the drug overdose death of a 41-year-old patient and the deaths of seven babies allegedly born alive at his West Philadelphia clinic. The death-penalty trial began Monday and is expected to last about two months. He has pleaded not guilty.

The woman, a recent immigrant, weighed only about 100 pounds and did not speak English.

Hand-scrawled clinic notes show she received two heavy doses of sedatives and narcotics during a 2009 abortion, despite signs of respiratory distress after the first dose. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Herlich testified that the amount of drugs given to Karnamaya Mongar -- at least as suggested by the nearly illegible clinic note -- would likely put her in a coma. He said the procedure also should have been stopped to address her breathing problems. Continuing with the surgery and giving her more drugs "is not what we would do under any circumstances," Herlich said.

Gosnell, 72, allegedly used the cheaper, outmoded drugs on patients, who paid anywhere from a few hundred dollars cash for a one-day, first-trimester abortion to nearly $3,000 for a three-day late-stage procedure.

Authorities found $250,000 in cash under a mattress when they raided his home in 2010, although they believe he also made significant sums through a separate "pill mill" at his street-corner clinic, where they said a steady stream of people sought painkiller prescriptions.

On cross-examination, Herlich acknowledged that Mongar apparently did not disclose any pulmonary problems to Gosnell's staff, although they turned up in her autopsy. But he said most of her problems could only have been diagnosed after her death.

Large sections of Mongar's medical questionnaire had been left blank. She had come to the clinic with an adult daughter who spoke little to no English herself.

Herlich acknowledged that other patients had gotten the same drug cocktail from Gosnell and survived.